Hungerford Residents Rally Against New Housing Plans

A planning application has been submitted for six semi‑detached houses and a detached house on land south of the Kennet and Avon Canal in Hungerford.

The site is a greenfield plot with mature hedgerows and trees, including large trees on the boundary with the River Kennet. The canal path runs along the northern edge.

Access would be from the east off Everland Road, with a new entrance to serve parking and internal roads heading west across the site.

Hungerford Town Council objects, saying the proposal is in a conservation area, sits next to the canal and is not in keeping with the canal conservation area.

"The current plans represent overdevelopment of the site," it said. "The development will significantly increase traffic, potentially two to three times the current level, due to the increased number of houses.

"There is a clear need for parking controls, such as double yellow lines, on the to-be-adopted existing public road to prevent indiscriminate parking, protect the condition of the road, and ensure that emergency vehicles can maintain access."

The council's highways team has also raised concerns about the access road needing to be properly adopted.

"We appreciate that this all sounds quite onerous, but this council has had /is having ongoing significant difficulties with a handful of developments within the district, where for whatever reason, roads have not been offered for adoption," said officers.

"The sites concerned have taken a considerable amount of council time and resources to resolve.

"There is also increased concern by local and national politicians of residents being asked to pay high management company charges for highway maintenance in addition to the council taxes that they already pay."

The council's flood watch team also flagged problems, calling for more groundwater information.

"Given the sensitivity of groundwater levels in this region we would require further information to ensure that site constraints do not preclude the use of infiltration as a discharge measure.

"Please can the applicant undertake long-term groundwater monitoring during the winter months to determine the highest groundwater level.

"Given the high groundwater recorded in October, it is likely that groundwater will rise during the further winter months."

Rural affordable housing policy usually requires 20% of a development to be affordable. The developer says no registered providers want to take just one small house; the council says it will waive the requirement but will expect a fee instead.

The case goes before the West Berkshire Council western area planning committee on Wednesday (July 15).

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter